MYSURU:
The Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) on Friday inaugurated its third office in the state on the day of Varamahalakhmi, with the objective of working towards increasing the digital economy contribution in the state to 30 percent of Gross State Domestic Product (SGDP).
During the event GlowTouch, a global IT company, which aims to employ 500 candidates was also inaugurated.
Inaugurating the new office, which is being set up at Silver Spirit Technology Park, Dr CN Ashwatha Narayana, the minister for Electronics, IT/Bt, and S&T, said, the KDEM office here will work focusing on the growth of the digital industry in the Mysuru cluster.
Informing that this was KDEM’s third office in the state after Bengaluru and Hubbali, he said, “Mysuru and other clusters like Hubballi and Mangaluru are expected to contribute more than 5 percent of overall tech economy by 2030. In order to strengthen the digital economy, the government will focus on improving connectivity even to remote parts, providing 24/7 electricity and to reduce rural-urban divide by establishing the needed infrastructure.”
The KDEM aims to attract investments for the IT sectors including the agro-sector in the state and to create 10 lakh jobs by 2025. It works to achieve the target by focusing on five verticals of IT products & services, innovation & startups, Electronic System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM), ‘Beyond Bengaluru’, and ‘Talent Accelerator’, the minister said.
The Prime Minister has set a target that India should become a USD 1 trillion digital economy by 2025. By then, Karnataka’s contribution from the digital economy should be able to reach about USD 300-350 billion and out of this, USD 150 billion is expected to be achieved from IT exports and KDEM has been set up to facilitate achieving this target, Narayana explained.
Pratap Simha, Member of Parliament of Mysuru, said, “10 lane highway connectivity between Bengaluru-Mysuru, which is planned to get completed by next year will facilitate the growth of industries in the Mysuru region.” He also assured that the work of the four-lane road between Mysuru and Madikeri would start the next year.
Prashanth Prakash, Chairman of the Startup Vision Group, GOK said, “Future Digital Jobs at Mysuru initiative, which was launched on the occasion was a well thought out special programme to tap the tech talent from Mysuru.”
Dr Ramana Reddy, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Electronics ITBT, S&T and C&I, Government of Karnataka explained the ‘Beyond Bengaluru’ initiative and its aspirations. He said, “The department is committed to providing all support to tap the full potential of Beyond Bengaluru clusters in Karnataka. We are seeing the early results like GlowTouch setting up in Mysore and iMerit already set up in Hubli and many more are in pipeline.”
B V Naidu, Chairman of KDEM also said, the aim of KDEM, a joint initiative of industry and the Government to drive ‘Beyond Bengaluru’ mission and create 10 lakh job opportunities in clusters identified outside Bengaluru is going to be a reality and Mysuru is becoming a promising destination for Global Capability Centres (GCC’s) and ESDM.
Pavan Ranga, Partner – N R Group & Chairman – CII and Mr Sanjay S, Director SSTP, Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, MD & CEO – Lahari (a world Class TESTING and CERTIFYING facility), Shyamprasad Hebbar, Director, GlowTouch, Meena Nagaraj, Director, Dept. of IT/Bt, Dr Bagadi Gautham, District Commissioner, and others were also present at the event. (ANI)
